City College Lacrosse Ready for the Spotlight

Lacrosse began its journey at The City College of New York (CCNY) in 1887, and the school fielded its first full team the next year. That team included a player called Bernard Baruch who went on to become a wealthy financier and advised presidents. Funny enough decades later, City College downtown was renamed Baruch College and became CCNY’s biggest sports rival. 

In 1906 City College was the first team to have a black athlete NCAA lacrosse player. The program was popular, but really took off in 1929 when the college hired Leon “Chief” Miller as head coach. He was called Chief because he was a member of the Indigenous Cherokee Nation from North Carolina. He was also an all-American lacrosse and football player at a school in Pennsylvania, according to brooklynlacrosse.org. Coach Miller built the program into a powerhouse by attracting great players for the next 50 years. His teams played schools like Harvard and Johns Hopkins.

Coach Miller stepped down in 1959 because of ill health. But the program remained solid and competitive until 1967. Student activism against the Vietnam War and changing tastes contributed to a lack of interest in sports at City College. A big blow came when the team lost the stadium where it had played. 

Lewisohn Stadium was demolished in 1973 and replaced with the North Academic Center  (NAC). There was a plan floated to build a new stadium on the south lawn of  the campus, but that plan was wiped out when the college decided to build two towering science buildings.

Since then it’s been a struggle to get recognition for lacrosse on campus, and beyond, for the program to have enough players to seriously compete. “Last year, you know, we won one game. That was our first win in our club league in 20 years,” lamented lacrosse coach Connor Wilson. 

Coach Wilson played lacrosse at Wesleyan University and then became the assistant coach there. He came on board at City College right before COVID. Now he could become the reincarnation of Chief Miller and bring the program back into serious competition and popularity.

He realizes that it’s a steep climb up that hill. “You’re looking at 52 to 55 years of a lot of tough seasons. You know, a lot of winless seasons, or one win, or two win seasons…and this year we went out and won four games,” he said. The team finished with a record of 5-3 with one forfeit win, which is the best season for the program since 1967. 

Coach Wilson has big dreams. He is actively recruiting from all over the world for the program. “I’d like to see the roster somewhere between 25 and 35…. I could see us at being above 30 next year,” he said. 

Players in the program see the difference. Second-year med student Peter Giannaris said, “[My] freshman year we couldn’t even play a game. We were lucky to have like four guys at practice sometimes…Now a small practice for us is like 9-10.” 

Many students find that sports provide a way to escape the reality of the world and as teammates grow bonds that will last a lifetime. Giannaris said, “This is my favorite part of the day. You know, coming out here [to practice] with the boys. It’s a nice break from school and you know we have fun.  We enjoy it ourselves.”

It has been a very different story for the women’s team here at City since the it started three years ago. They struggle but remain optimistic. Laura Lentz, a junior, and Sofia Rodon, a freshman are two of about nine girls who consistently show up for practice and games. But, 20 girls signed up for the team and because they often can’t field a full team, they sometimes have to either forfeit or borrow players from other teams.

Laura picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time ever, a year ago at City College and was able to play right away because women’s lacrosse is a club, not a varsity-level team. “But I love that it’s a club because it makes me feel comfortable. It can be so scary to try something new,” said Laura. But, she’d like more women to commit to the team. “I wish we could get the recruitment up a little bit because it does make it hard to commit…it’s a little frustrating when you show up and there’s only three people at practice,” she said.

But her teammate Sofia, who played in high school, is ready to get competitive.  “Sometimes I wish that we were a varsity sport but I really like the fact that we’re a very welcoming team.” She said “I wish we were a much bigger club…I wish more girls knew that they can come in any time.” 

Even though both teams remain clubs, rather than varsity-level teams, Coach Wilson’s commitment is up to varsity standards. He always strives to create the best environment for students. He said, “We’re trying to ensure that the kids on the team have a great experience that they enjoy, you know, testing themselves and coming together as a team.”

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